Read full live text commentary of the Premier League game between Arsenal and
Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday April 8 2012, kick-off
16:00 BST.

WRAP: That's the end, and that is the end for Manchester City. They've blown it, blown up, imploded, gone to pieces, narked it right up. Remember the 6-1 at Old Trafford, when the rest of the Premier League was running scared of them? When some observers were already queueing up to place the crown on their heads? Instead, here are their last five games: lost, won, drawn, drawn, lost. Ten points dropped at a time when Manchester United have been churning out victories like cheap toys off a production line. Their time will come again, surely. The glum faces of Sheikh Mansour on the Emirates balcony are also defiant faces, and you can be sure they are already identifying summer transfer targets. Whether Roberto Mancini will still be there to manage them is anybody's guess. I've not mentioned Balotelli, the man who will surely share the headlines with Mikel Arteta tomorrow. Whether Balotelli's misdirected rage has been a symptom or the cause of City's slump, his display today was just awful, even by his standards. There's someone who needs to take a good look in the bathroom mirror, if it survived the firework attack. Thanks for reading, and see you soon.

90+5 min What a miss by Aaron Ramsey! He had so much time, so much space, that the clock almost seemed to stop as he lined up the shot. He was 10 yards out, and just sliced it wide!

90+4 min We've gone past 94 minutes. Tevez lining it up. Kolarov too. It's going to be Kolarov... and it's into the wall! And Arsenal have three on one on the break!

90+3 min Zabaleta clears it long, looking for Kolarov who's almost playing as a centre-forward now. Tevez tries to dribble past Koscielny, who fouls him. Last chance for City to rescue a point they really, really don't deserve.

90 min We're going to have four minutes of injury time. Crucial goal for Arsenal that, too, as it'll put them two points ahead of Tottenham if they can hang on.

89 min RED CARD (Mario Balotelli) "He lets you down time and time again," says Gary Neville. "It's idiotic, there's no other word for it." That could have been this third red card of the game. Instead, it's his second of the season in the Premier League as he scissors in recklessly on Sagna, who was going absolutely nowhere in his own half. A predictable denouement to what has been a wretched afternoon for Balotelli.

88 min Arsenal fans are doing the Poznan. Ha.

86 min GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City (Arteta) Brilliant strike from Arteta, and City's hopes of the Premier League are evaporating into the night! Glaring error from Pizarro - not his first, it needs to be stressed - to get dispossessed by Arteta in his own half. Arteta has space to run into, and surges towards goal as City stand off him. Well, why not put the laces through it? he thinks, and by golly, he does. Hart didn't have a chance as it flew in low. Is that the final nail in City's coffin? And what about Mancini's?

85 min Final subsitution of the match for Arsenal as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain comes on for Theo Walcott.

84 min Kolarov's corner is low, disappointing and fails to beat the first man. It bobbles up and Szczesny catches easily.

83 min "Do you think City really want the title, or have they given up already?" asks Paul Kerton. "They need Tevez and Dzeko fast." Here is Tevez, coming on for Aguero. Meanwhile, City have a corner on the right.

82 min The free-kick is straight into Szczesny's arms. Profligate. Here come Arsenal again, with Andre Santos cutting inside and trying to playing a low-percentage through ball from about 30 yards out. Straight out for a goal-kick. Meanwhile, guess who's just taken his bib off and is getting ready to come on? It's only Carlos Tevez.

81 min Balotelli with his first bit of real skill down the right, squirming away from Santos, squirming away from Koscielny, winning a free-kick on the right.

79 min Sagna crosses from the right after getting the throw back. Kompany heads it away. He's been super, again. Balotelli, meanwhile, has gone up top with Aguero. It's often hard to know with Mancini whether he's going for broke or playing it safe. Going 4-4-2 with 10 minutes left is one of those moments.

78 min Van Persie tries to surge past Kompany, but Kompany stays strong and puts it out for a throw. Arsenal bring on Aaron Ramsey for Yossi Benayoun. Meanwhile, City are bringing on Aleksandr Kolarov for Samir Nasri, who's been fairly anonymous in the second period. Balotelli stays on the pitch. Is Mancini scared of how he might react?

76 min Unbelievable! Arsenal miss three open goals in a row! Sagna charges down the right and cuts the ball back to Walcott, who tries to side-foot the ball past Hart. It hits the post and comes back to Vermaelen two yards out with an open goal to aim at. But he mis-kicks with his weaker right foot and the ball falls to Benayoun four yards out, who again has an empty net in front of him! But Lescott just gets a little piece of the ball, which spins agonisingly wide of the post, seemingly in slow motion. "I'm not quite sure what happened there," a stunned Gary Neville says.

75 min Arteta miscues his clearance and it's a throw to City in the Arsenal half. Zabaleta throws it to Balotelli, who again simply gets bustled off the ball by a retreating Benayoun. Roberto Mancini needs to change things here, he really does.

74 min City can't clear it here! Van Persie with an uncharacteristically slack pass that stymies the momentum of the move somewhat, and eventually the cross to the back post is headed away by Clichy. Walcott didn't fancy challenging for that header.

73 min Zabaleta with a brilliant clearing header from almost under his own crossbar! The corner was short and came out to Rosicky, who crossed deep.

72 min But Arsenal are dominating again. Walcott fires in a shot from 20 yards. Blocked. Back in from Song, it's deflected and Hart can't keep it in. Vermaelen jogs forward as Van Persie lines up the corner from the right.

70 min GOAL DISALLOWED (Van Persie) Barry under pressure from Song, but manages to clip it out to Clichy on the left. But Clichy's lost it, and Arsenal break with Song! Song runs the ball to about 30 yards out and then slips it to Van Persie on his left. Van Persie's in a wonderful shooting position, but he's offside as he turns inside Zabaleta and chips it over Hart with his right foot! A lapse in concentration from Van Persie and, it has to be said, a good decision from the linesman.

68 min Martin Atkinson's made a rod for his own back here by booking Toure so early. Koscielny slides in on Gareth Barry, doesn't get the ball, and Martin Atkinson shows him a yellow card too. That's Koscielny's 10th of the season, and it means he'll miss the next two games against Wolves and Wigan. Johan Djourou will probably deputise with Mertesacker out for the season. In comes the free-kick from Pizarro, and Balotelli fails to connect with a bicycle kick after Lescott headed it back across goal!

67 min Pizarro dithers on the ball and is dispossessed on the slide by Rosicky. Arsenal could start something here if... oh, if Van Persie doesn't pass the ball straight to Milner.

65 min It's been a good five minutes for Arsenal. Song plays a vertical ball to Rosicky. He combines with Benayoun on the edge of the area. Pizarro with a well-timed tackle, though, and City win it back.

63 min Robin van Persie hits the post! The cross came in from the right, I think from Song, and Van Persie was completely unmarked in between Kompany and Lescott, and tries to head it back past Hart into the opposite corner. Hart's completely wrong-footed, but the ball kisses the base of the post and bobbles back out for City to clear! Those were the ones that were going in for him earlier in the season. Margins, margins, margins. Arsene Wenger picks up a water bottle, thinks about throwing it, and then decides to drink from it instead.

62 min Benayoun twists and turns. He's such a lovely player to watch when he's in full flow. Preferably from behind. He fires in a low shot, which is deflected and fairly easy for Joe Hart to gather.

61 min The free-kick's headed away. "You never see Zabaleta and Prince William together, do you?" Andy Holgate wonders. "This game is crap."

60 min Balotelli surges towards the right byline and is brought down by a flailing Andre Santos. Balotelli has a chirp at him as he gets up - the nutter - but it's Andre Santos who gets booked for the challenge. Ah, Andre Santos's haphazard attempts at defending. I've missed those. If someone were to put together a DVD of his 'finest' moments this season, I am sure I would not be the only person who bought it.

59 min The corner is headed by Lescott, but actually away from goal. It comes out to Aguero, who tries the spectacular swivelling volley but puts it right into the expensive seats. It actually goes out for a throw.

58 min Clichy's wriggled free of Walcott in the corner! The cross goes all the way past the back post to Zabaleta on the right byline. Benayoun with a crunching, perfectly-timed challenge to put it out for a corner.

56 min Well, that's an adventurous substitution by Arsene Wenger. Gibbs, I think, just picked up a bit of a knock early in this second half. Meanwhile, a foul from Milner on Rosicky, and he goes into the book.

55 min "Tevez is probably 40 minutes-fit which means he wil be on any minute," writes Paul Kerton. "Maybe Dzeko as well. City need it. Nothing really happening and as you say, Balotelli can't be arsed." Arsenal are bringing off Kieran Gibbs and bringing on Andre Santos.

53 min Szczesny tips Aguero's header over the bar! The ball comes in from the left and Aguero has a yard of space to direct the header into the corner. But coming in from the right is Zabaleta, who also challenges for the header and nudges Aguero off balance as he does so! Either of those two on their own, you fancy, would have headed it in. Instead, it loops up for Szczesny, who takes no chances.

51 min Clichy does brilliantly down the left! He powers past Arteta, sees Sagna's slippery slide tackle bearing down on him and evades that too. He finds Aguero in the left channel, who tries to turn past Koscielny and gives away a free-kick as Koscielny holds him off.

50 min Nasri with a spicy challenge on Song on the City right. Free-kick, and the Arsenal fans plead unsuccessfully with Martin Atkinson to book him.

49 min Long clearance from Szczesny, but it's gathered by Clichy on the left with ease. City have looked a lot more comfortable since that first quarter. Pizarro's just given them an air of calm.

47 min Vermaelen wins the ball well and spreads it to Gibbs on the left. Gibbs's cross hits Kompany and City can clear. Balotelli on the ball, and Song brushes him off it as if Balotelli isn't there. Which, figuratively speaking, he isn't. Some days Balotelli just can't be arsed. This is one of those days.

46 min Perhaps Balotelli's just frustrated about being stuck out on the left. Here he gets the ball but lets the onrushing Clichy takes over. Clichy crosses early to the near post, where Vermaelen stops Aguero from reaching it.

17.05 Well, Tevez isn't on. Balotelli is. He grimaces into the rain, which really is pelting down now. Crucial 45 minutes in this Barclays Schmarclays Premier League season. No changes by either side at half time.

17.04 Arsenal are first to emanate from the tunnel. Still no sign of City. "They need a spark," Jamie Redknapp says, arguing that Carlos Tevez should be brought on for the second half.

17.03 Right, what do we think are the chances of Balotelli emerging for the second half? And if he does emerge for the second half, which team will he be playing for?

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Henry Winter - Balotelli apparently has T-shirt with YOLO on it. You'll Only Live Once. More like Blue Moonraker with that challenge on Song&lt;/noframe&gt;

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Ray Parlour - Arsenal the better team in the 1 st Half. City poor for me. Ballotelli would drive me Bonkers if he was my team mate!&lt;/noframe&gt;

17.00 An email from Andy Holgate:

Is Benayoun the modern day Ian Dowie? He's scaring my dog.

Oh, be nice. It's not his fault he looks like the lost Osmond child.

HALF-TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Manchester City

45+3 min Oh, Balotelli! Have you ever looked at a family pet - a dog, perhaps or a cat - and wondered what on earth it could be thinking. I get the same feeling looking at Balotelli. What is going in your head, you crazy man? Anyway, that's half-time, which Balotelli ends on the turf, apparently injured. I doubt he is.

45+1 min It's just died down a bit before half-time, so over to you, Tyler Jeffery: "Nasri said he was leaving Arsenal with 'bitterness and anger in my heart'. There is a difference between leaving for a higher-paying job as is anyone’s right, and pushing your way out and then blasting your old employer and customers after you leave."

45 min Long ball up towards Sagna, who heads it brilliantly on to Van Persie. Van Persie with the backheel back into the path of Sagna. Brilliant little vignette, that. Sagna's cross is headed away by Kompany. Because of those injuries to Song and Yaya Toure, we're going to have three minutes of extras.

43 min City work the ball through midfield. Kompany making a foray, finds Aguero, who plays it off to Pizarro, outside to Clichy, and the cross is slightly disappointing. Szczesny with a routine catch.

42 min Walcott lets the ball squirm away from him and then handles it as it bobbles back up. Arsenal will be desperately disappointed if they don't get anything from this half.

40 min Super skillz from Joe Hart! The ball's cleared long and high by Arsenal, and despite being out of his area with Van Persie bearing down on him, Hart brings the lofted ball down beautifully on his laces. Hart showed more deftness and touch in that one piece of skill than Ricardo Fuller has shown in his entire career.

38 min Koscielny to Song to Benayoun as Arsenal work it around in the City half again. Benayoun with a lovely back-heeled flick into the path of Van Persie... almost. Cleared by Kompany. City play it through midfield, and suddenly Aguero's striding menacingly towards goal. He tries to turn Koscielny, the ball ricochets out to Balotelli, who again goes in with studs up on Sagna! Somebody stop this crazy man! Martin Atkinson does act on this one, and books Balotelli. Balotelli shoots him an incredulous look. Why always you, Mario? Because of that, you ninny.

36 min "Are you sure Martin Atkinson is on the pitch?" Paul Kerton asks. No, he definitely is, but my guess is that he's also listening to an audiobook or something.

35 min Desperate defence from City again! And then from Arsenal at the other end! City make an awful hash of clearing a series of crosses into the box, Lescott eventually hooking it away and down the field, where Balotelli is past the last defender! Szczesny - crazy, crazy, faintly brilliant Szczesny - dashes clean 30 yards out of his goal and whacks it clear a nanosecond before Balotelli can get there.

34 min Neatly done by Hart again, leaping acrobatically, contorting his spine into a shape that no human should really contort their precious spine, and punching it clear.

33 min Sagna's in a tight spot just outside his own area, under pressure from two City players, but does very well to wriggle away and spread the play out to the left. Gibbs takes it down that wing, Barry slides in and gets the ball, but he's penalised for it. Harsh. Free-kick to Arsenal in a dangerous position on the left.

31 min Lescott goes up for the corner at the back post, but he can't direct it towards goal. On the replay, Sagna can be seen practically wrenching Lescott's shirt over his head. A clear penalty if that had been seen. Martin Atkinson hasn't seen a lot so far, has he?

30 min Balotelli wins a corner on the right. "Balotelli needs to get his act together," writes Liam Duke. "That challenge on Song was disgraceful, he needs to stop being lazy and play properly." Imagine being Mario Balotelli's PE teacher at school. "Mario. Put that DOWN. Put it DOWN. Mario, put the lighter away..."

29 min Arsenal give the ball away in midfield, and Nasri comes away with it! Koscielny closes the space down and wards off the immediate danger, but City have definitely come back into the game since... well, since Yaya went off, strangely enough. I'm going to keep banging on about Pizarro, he's absolutely mint.

27 min Damian Durrant writes: "Jonathan, if the title ends up being 'over' today it will be somehow disappointing, like all foreplay and no... you know. Or Japanese food, all broth and nothing to really chew on. We will be left with relegation battles." Clearly, Damien, you've never had wagyu beef. The most tender cut of meat in the world, after Yakubu's neck.

26 min Milner crosses from the right, and it's headed away for City's first corner. Delivered from the right, and Balotelli's shot is cleared off the line by Kieran Gibbs! Well worked move from City, that, Balotelli starting at the back post and then making a curving run towards the penalty spot, where he was completely unmarked.

24 min "City are going to have a problem if they don't get inside Arsenal's shorts," writes Paul Kerton. "The forwards aren't tracking back and Barry and Milner are, at best, woolly. Who put Rosicky's batteries back in?" Who indeed? One of football's enduring mysteries is why Tomas Rosicky was so terrible for so long. He was 25 when he joined Arsenal. He's now 31. They should have been his prime years. Instead, they've become his lost years.

23 min Arteta with another Arsenal corner from the left. Vermaelen gets his head to it, but it's the back of his head and he can't direct it towards goal. Unbelievable possession statistics after a quarter of the game: Arsenal 78%-22% Manchester City.

21 min As Scott Parker will tell you, Balotelli's clearly got history when it comes to sneaky slices of violence. He's lucky to still be on the pitch, Balotelli. Didn't even get booked.

20 min Shocking challenge by Mario Balotelli! Song was first to the ball, but Balotelli just sort of lazily sauntered in with the studs of his right boot proudly erect. He meets Song square in the shin, and Song crumples to the turf in genuine pain. Has Martin Atkinson seen it? I don't think he has, you know.

19 min Walcott tries to play it into the path of Sagna, but Sagna had already moved on. "Here's something interesting for you," writes Rachel D. "Arsenal starting XI: £45.55m. Man City subs: £113.5m."

18 min Is Balotelli struggling now? Rosicky's through ball to Walcott is marshalled by Barry, who clears it back off Walcott for a goal kick. A furious pace to this game.

16 min Van Persie's header is cleared off the line - by Thomas Vermaelen! He was about six yards out - no, less, and slammed a header towards the corner, and Vermaelen, who was virtually on the line but onside - couldn't get out of the way! The rebound is headed just over.

15 min "I'm sure you get a lot of emails complaining or arguing with you, so I'll try not to adopt too much of a argumentative or morally superior tone," says Joe Rankin. "I just felt obliged to express my disappointment at the scornful comment that Nasri 'he left for the challenge'. I realise you're hinting, fairly crudely, that it was for the money. To criticise Nasri for moving to a club where he will earn more and win more, is wrong. Just as it would be wrong for me to criticise you should you take twice your salary at the Times or equivalent. Like it or not, footballers get paid a lot and can move to earn more as well as win more; as in any other job anywhere. Why shouldn't he go? I just think this subject has been done to death by many, most of whom are genuinely wrong." That was a fraction of the full email but he raises a valid point. Yaya's still struggling.

14 min Walcott with the cross from the right. Kompany slices his clearance out for a throw. Gareth Barry, I noticed, just decided to let that cross go straight past him at about waist height. Rosicky again, this time on the right corner of the area, tries to dink it over for Van Persie. Lescott and Kompany trap Van Persie in a pincer movement, Lescott heads it behind, Van Persie goes down, Arsenal scream for a penalty, Martin Atkinson merely signals for a corner.

13 min Gibbs again down the left. Utterly incessant from Arsenal, this. Rosicky tries to lift it through for Van Persie, but Van Persie had made the run in the other direction.

11 min Toure is back on, but still moving gingerly. Rosicky's through ball to Van Persie is cut out. Gibbs now with a foray up the left. Slips it to Rosicky outside him. The cross comes in, and is headed away. Yaya scrambles to clear the second ball.

10 min Gary Neville banging on about zonal marking again. As I seem to remember, the Liverpool side of the 1980s used it. That didn't go so badly for them, did it? Benayoun twists and turns on the edge of the area and loses it, Yaya Toure getting the foot in. Yaya is fouled as he tries to come away with the ball, and stays down.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Henry Winter - It's the second week of April, the leaves are back on the trees, and Balotelli's just put on gloves.&lt;/noframe&gt;

9 min The noise swells as Sagna swings yet another cross in from the right. Well headed away by Kompany as Vermaelen - Vermaelen, the furthest man forward - looks to attack it.

7 min Arsenal are dominating these early minutes. Walcott with the cross from the right now, Lescott again with the header away, and then screams at Balotelli to do some defending. Sagna and Walcott are getting far too much time.

6 min "I don't know if this is going out!" says Alan Parry, who clearly can't hear anything through his headphones. We can hear him fine, but I know how he feels. That 'is anybody out there?' feeling. By the way, is anybody out there? That's why we ask for emails. It's a form of self-validation, dammit! Oh, and because we want to know what you think. Sagna crosses from the right. Headed away by Lescott.

4 min Walcott to Song, who plays the return ball down the right wing. Clichy clears it out for a corner, which is swung in from the right. Joe Hart does well to punch it away.

3 min The free-kick leads to a corner, which is headed away by Kompany. City clear it towards Aguero, who is offside. Arsenal have made the better start.

2 min Free-kick to Arsenal about 35 yards out as Rosicky darts past Yaya Toure and Toure drags him down. And a yellow card from Martin Atkinson. I see, I see. It's going to be one of those games. Toure's looked so slow recently.

1 min Back pass to Szczesny from Vermaelen, and Szczesny's clearance has sailed straight out of play. Aguero looks to be playing up top with Balotelli rather than just in behind, the pair of them taking it in turns to make the surging forward run.

16.00 Arsenal to kick off. The grass is on the pitch. Let's play!

15.59 Samir Nasri, if you're reading: if you score today, I command you to do this. I will cherish you forever.

15.45 No David Silva today, so City give a start to Samir Nasri, returning to the Emirates for the second time since leaving Arsenal joining Manchester City 'for the challenge'. As well as Nasri, Gael Clichy, Sergio Aguero, Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott and Pablo Zabaleta all return to the first XI. As usual in big games, Mancini picks Balotelli over Dzeko or Tevez. Micah Richards is on the bench. Meanwhile, could somebody - anybody? - please give David Pizarro a start?

Arsenal make just one change, bringing in Yossi Benayoun for Aaron Ramsey. And this might sound a bit strange, but how much more solid have Arsenal looked since Kieran Gibbs came back? Very. That's my answer.

15.40 This could be it, then. In a little over two hours, the title race could be over. No more seizure-inducing Sky Sports 'TITLE SMACKDOWN' graphics. No more interviews with 1992-93 United players about how the first title is always the hardest. No more lengthy comment pieces about how Alex Ferguson's sides just have, you know, what it takes? No more silly mind games. No more repeats of Kevin Keegan saying 'I would love it'. No more confected rows between Fergie and Vieira/Mancini/Tevez/The Media. All done and dusted for another twelve months, our attention immediately switching to the relegation battle, which is just so much better in every way. That's what awaits us if Manchester City slip up at the Emirates today. United's jolly cruise against QPR earlier has given them an eight-point lead at the top of the Best League In The World That Doesn't Include Napoli, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Or Basel, and if Manchester City can't close that back down to five this afternoon then even Roberto Mancini concedes that his goose is cooked. (Specifically, deep-fried, Govan style, and served with salt and sauce.) Team news follows.